First Half-Step->Franklin's Tower combo opens this great spring '78 show at the Uptown Theater. Solid half-step and the franklin's is nice. Mellow, but groovy and meanders some near the end, in a good way. Bobby even "leading" a bit on slide. Double dose of Jerry is followed by double dose of cowboy Bob on Me and My Uncle->Big River. Sweet, emotive versions then follow of It Must Have Been The Roses and Looks Like Rain. The band's in good form. Donna and Bobby singing nicely off each other. Keith getting in on the action on Tennessee Jed. Sounds good, here. Pumped up, "LAAAAWW come to get you if you don't walk right." '78 has this sort of drippy sound that I really actually like. Fine example of this on Jed. Not quite as mellow as '76, neither as tight and bound as '77, it's somewhere in between, stretching and meandering, and adds a bluesy-rock-psychedelic edge. Band goofing off, wish both Mickey and Billy a happy birthday, then go into Finiculi Finicula. Always pleasing Lazy Lightning->Supplication Jam to close out set.

Standard fare for set two, but it's well-played. Fast, nearly 15-minute Dancin' highlights the set. It segues into another really long 15 minutes of drums, then is followed by five minutes of space. Early '78 is when they started their conventional drums->space segment coming roughly midway through the second set. This space is neat and sort of spooky and cooky- it's punctuated by Phil (it sounds like) screaming at the start and Donna joining in on the fun near the end. This blogger thinks it's the year's best: http://www.deadlistening.com/2008/02/1978-may-16-17-uptown-theater-chicago.html. It segues into Terrapin- no big jam at/around it. NFA->A&A to close brings back that groovy, drippy '78 sound. More of Weir on the slide. Then there's a nice Werewolves encore -- Jer's turn with the slide -- to conclude the two-night Chicago run. (This is the 7th of 13 Werewolves. It was played 9x in '78, 1x in '79, then 3x, respectively, on Halloween '85, '90, and '91.)

This two-night run marks a good return to the Uptown, just not as good as the winter run. Keith's final trip comes fall for three more. No third night -- if the rumors are to be believed -- as Billy returned to the west coast following some sort of kurfuffle with Keith. Or perhaps, absent the drama, this fellow seems to think (recall?) the show being canceled "on account of Billy coming down with the mumps." Read more: http://www.deadlistening.com/2008/02/1978-may-16-17-uptown-theater-chicago.html. Who knows?

PS: DeadBase50 lists 5/18 - the third night - as a cancelled show (xii): "The reason given at the time was that Billy was exhausted. This started rumors that he was leaving the band." Hmm. Exhaustion, the mumps, AND a kurfuffle?!

Nice opening pair of songs, I was surprised to learn from the reviewer below that they played that combo 40 times. It seems many of them were top open a show and some to open second set. Interesting. Too bad Jerry struggles a bit with the Franklin's verses...ah well so do I usually :-)

Agree the LL->Supplication is well worth a listen and so is the Dancin'. Hah Just heard the "Play all night" during drums.

I tend to jump all over the 30 years when listening to shows, and probably do not land on '78 too often but my last couple were pretty good scores.

Thanks to all involved in bringing this music to my ears today.

Not a huge fan of 78 shows but I'm trying to find a reason to enjoy them more. This is definitely a good show and worth a listen but it didn't knock my socks off. Great Mississippi > Franklin's intro and an excellent Lazy Lightning > Supplication.

Some pretty intense deadbase stats below! 9 out of 10 on the autistic spectrum meter.

Per DeadBase:
1st of 40, Half Step> Franklin's;
1st of 2 (other 12-16-78)... L. L. Rain, Tennessee Jed, Lazy Lightning> Supplication [3rd of 11... Tennessee Jed, Lazy Lightning> Supplication];
Only, Dancin> Drumz> Terrapin> NFA> Around
[Only, Dancin> Drumz> Terrapin; Only, Terrapin> NFA> Around; 1st of 2 (other 5-28-77), Terrapin> NFA; 5th of 6 (all in 77 - 78), NFA> Around];
7th of 12 (all but 3 in 78), Werewolves.

Stroll away the dew!